Johns Hopkins is giving its 70 Academic All-America honorees an honored place on campus, not only by creating a recognition wall, but making that project the first phase of its plan to enhance the look of the Newton White Athletic Center.

The wall, designed by the Pennsylvania firm Marketechs, is the first step in a plan that also will result in redesign of existing trophy cases and the addition of new displays, as well as enhancement of team meeting rooms and common areas in the facility.

But honoring the Academic All-America award recipients came first.

“While it was clear from the outset that this would be a plan that would be put in place over several years, I made a strong argument that recognizing our Academic All-Americans was something that should be done sooner rather than later,” said Ernie Larossa, associate director of athletics and sports information director at the school.

“We’ve been fortunate to win numerous conference, regional and national championships, but the success of the student-athlete at Johns Hopkins in the classroom is amazing and recognizing their accomplishments this way is long overdue.”

Seventeen of the school’s 26 teams have produced at least one Academic All-America selection since Johns Hopkins’ first honoree was selected in 1976. Those include 21 baseball student-athletes, including three members of its 2008 Division III Baseball Championship runner-up team.

During 2006-07, eight Johns Hopkins student-athletes earned the honor, which is awarded by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

“The Academic All-America program is one that I have a very strong affinity for and I’m glad that we were able to get this portion of the process completed first,” Larossa said. “It is a very powerful statement when one of our coaches is with a family and they are discussing the academic success of our athletes. To see all 70 of those plaques displayed is amazing.”